Late evening call
by ninz
Summary: On a boring evening like any other Vivian gets a call from a sick Danny asking for her help. Set just before EndgameShowdown. Please R&R!


**Author's notes:** Of course first of all, these characters aren't mine… (I wish they were…)

I've been writing all kinds of fanfic for years so I think it was inevitable I'd do a WaT-story sooner or later.

This is a story about Vivian and Danny as they're my favourite characters. It's set just before the end of season three, when Viv is on sick leave (sometime before the episode Showdown)

I hope you don't mind my English isn't perfect; I'm from Germany… But apart from that I wish you a good time reading this. Oh, and please – if you liked it – submit a review!

The rain had finally stopped to fall when around ten p.m. Vivian finally decided to go to bed. She wasn't really tired but then again, there wasn't much else to do. Life had become boring lately, since she hadn't been working. The thing making it really hard to her was that she wasn't really feeling sick – and work would also surely help her to keep her mind off the upcoming operation – but she knew the risk was too high. She couldn't afford breaking down on the job again.

So – though with difficulty – she had finally come to accept that unless she gone through that operation she'd have to stay at home feeling bored. To make things worse it had been a cold and rainy week; the dark cloudy sky making it almost impossible to leave the house unless there was a particular reason. And she didn't have one.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing. With a sigh she reached over to grab the annoying little thing and wasn't too surprised as she when she saw the name that flashed on the display.

"Yes, Danny?" she answered the phone and couldn't help smiling to herself.

"Listen, Viv, I know it's late but I really need to talk to you. Can I come over?"

He sounded somehow strange but she couldn't put her finger on what was different. "Danny, it's ten now, by the time you'll be here it'll be at least 10.30…"

"Actually being honest I'm already on your doorstep, well, almost…"

Viv sighed. "Alright then… let's see if I can help you."

She hung up the moment her husband Marcus entered the room looking curious. "Who was it?"

"Oh, just somebody from work…" she answered hesitantly knowing exactly what was going to come.

"You're not getting involved in any case, I hope…"

Vivian sighed and decided to tell him the full truth: "Well, it was Danny, he wants to talk to me about something. I don't know if it's got anything to do with work, but he's going to pass by."

"Now? At this time?"

"Yes, but I'll make him leave as soon as I can, ok?"

Marcus just gave her a warning look before he left the room, shaking his head. Vivian continued to stare after him for a short while before she made her way to the front door just in time to stop Danny from knocking.

"So, what's up?" she asked doing her best to look a little angry – although deep down she was almost happy to see him as this meant that at least something was happening in her life. (And also she could hardly be angry with him anyway which, of course, he knew…)

Danny was leaning against the doorframe looking very pale and exhausted, but when he saw Vivian's face he smiled apologetically. "Hey." Before she could stop him he slipped past her into the house. As soon as she'd closed the door behind him he started to explain: "I need to talk to you about a case we're on. Actually they're on… there's something… it reminds me of something and I really need you to help me remember…"

Vivian sighed. This was obviously going to take longer. "Danny, Danny… not so fast. Just one thing at a time. Lets go in the living-room."

He followed her. When she offered him a seat she noticed he hadn't taken off his coat. It was only then when she saw that he was shivering. "Danny, are you ok?"

"Fine. I'm fine." He seemed convinced by what he was saying, but she wasn't.

"Are you ill?"

He ignored her question. "I'd be alright. If I could go back to work. I told Jack I know something. Almost know, actually… but he wouldn't listen. Says he doesn't trust my judgement. He sent me home."

"I can see why", Vivian said eying him critically. "Are you running a fever?" She reached out to touch his forehead. Even though he flinched away she made contact long enough to notice that he sure had a temperature.

"But he doesn't understand. He needs my help, I'm sure I can solve the case. I just need to think about it for a while…"

"You need to rest that's what you need", Vivian replied pushing him down on the sofa. "I'm going to make you some tea…"

She turned to walk into the kitchen but Danny held her back. "Viv, the name Lisa Brown, have you heard it before?"

"There's probably about a Million Lisa Browns in this world. But on second thoughts it does sound somehow familiar. Why?"

"Dunno. Can't put my finger on it, but I think there might have been a Lisa Brown missing some time years ago – a case that we worked on. I was going to look through old files but Jack wouldn't let me. Even after he'd taken me off the case…"

"… which he probably did 'cos you're sick…"

"… he wouldn't even let me stay in the office to check if I'm right."

"Which is, where Jack was right."

But Danny shook his head stubbornly. "No Viv. He's making a mistake not believing me. I told him that even if I was going home someone should look through the files to find out about Lisa Brown but he said there was no time for it."

Vivian sighed. "What do you want from me?"

"Think." He saw her face, filled with doubt. "Please Viv!"

"Alright I'll think about it. But I want you to lie down and at least try to rest a bit. You're looking really bad."

"But…"

"No buts. Now lie down and I'll get you a blanket. By the way, you haven't taken off your coat."

"It's cold in here."

"No it isn't. You're just freezing 'cos of the fever."

Vivian knew that Danny war far from resting properly. It was normal in the job; you couldn't just switch the brain on and off, as you wanted it. She should have seen this coming; Sam had called the evening before and they had talked about what was going on at work. Sam had said something about Danny having had a cold all week and Jack having tried him to take a day off to keep it from worsening since he was no use when he was ill. But there had been a couple of tough cases and Danny had refused to stay at home since he wouldn't have been able to take his mind off work anyway. Like he was unable to do that now.

After working with the younger agent for years now she'd come to know him quite well, and she knew he could be quite unreasonable at times. Just like a man… (Jack was the same.)

So after fetching a blanket for Danny she decided to get him some food and drink from the kitchen as well. He had probably neither eaten nor drunk enough in days.

After everything was done Viv sat next to him on the sofa.

Danny had finally removed his coat and tie, keeping everything else on, and covered himself with the blanket. He was still shivering a little but not as badly as before. His face was a mask of concentration but when Vivian handed him a cup of hot tea he gave her a thankful look and smiled.

"Feeling a bit better?"

"I'm fine", he said again, but not even trying to sound convincing this time.

"I'm sure you are." Vivian smiled at him. "How can one person be as stubborn as you?"

"It's got me trough life."

There was a short silence after that. But then Vivian spoke again: "I need to know more if I'm to help you. You'll have to tell me the whole story."

"Right, we're on a case: a Diana Baker went missing almost two days ago. She doesn't really have any family; we've just been able to speak to some friends of hers. She doesn't even have many of them either."

Vivian was nodding every now and then to show him that she was listening closely.

Danny continued: "This afternoon I got a call from one of Diana Bakers friends saying she'd just remembered something that she hadn't told us earlier. She thought it might be interesting, so I met up with her and she told me about a phone call Diana had received when the two of them had been together. It was obvious that whatever was said on the phone it had frightened Diana and her friend could hear her mumbling something like '…this is just like being Lisa Brown…' I know that this was important the moment she said it, but I couldn't place the information right."

"Lisa Brown", Viv repeated trying to think hard. "Lisa Brown… how long since that case what do think?"

"I dunno. Few years at least. Must have been in my first or second year working on your team."

Silence until suddenly Vivian slammed her hand on the small table next to the couch they were sitting on. "I know who she was! Lisa Brown, ran away from her probably violent boyfriend, that's been at least six or seven years ago. We never found her, remember? – Oh, and you got into a nasty row with the boyfriend when he attacked you."

"Yes, that's it! Now I remember as well."

"And you're right that was during your first year. And when that man attacked you lost it. Completely. I can still see Jack pulling you off him to stop you from killing him…"

Danny had to grin at the thought of it. "He might have thought I was no match for him." But his expression soon turned back to serious as the case was still not solved yet. "But what's Lisa Brown to do with Diana Baker?"

"Maybe she and Diana are the same person", Viv suggested. "As I said; we never found her. Maybe she made up a new identity years ago, lived in peace…"

"…until he former boyfriend you would always keep searching for her finally found where she was now. And who she was. That's it! Viv you're a genius! I'm going to call Jack, this could give us a good hint to where she might be now. Maybe she's contacted somebody from her former life. Her parents. Or a friend."

Danny got up from the sofa, almost jumped up, but was swaying so much Viv grabbed his arm and easily pulled him back down: "You are not going to do anything. I'll call Jack and you get some sleep. Now!"

"Yes _mum_." He tried to sound pissed off but still had to smile though. Suddenly he felt the full extent of his exhaustion. And he knew he'd maybe be able to sleep now. Viv was now taking care of everything.

Lying back on the sofa and trying to find space for his long legs he pulled the blanket up to his chin. For the first time that evening he seemed able to relax a little. Vivian watched him struggle with the too small sofa for while trying to think if she could offer him any better place to stay but then Jack's voice interrupted her. She'd almost forgotten that she'd already got her phone and dialled his number.

"Malone."

"Jack it's me."

Silence. Probably surprised. "Hey. How are you? And what are you doing up?"

"Oh, that's a long story. Listen I have to talk to you about that case you're on…" She could hear Jack sigh on the other end of the line.

"How do you know about it?" Of course Jack already knew the answer to this question.

"Danny's here. He called me earlier and asked if you could come over; I said yes…"

"I told the boy to go home and get some rest, he was so run down lately…"

"Well, he's resting now. Finally." Vivian took a look at the sofa where now Danny had indeed fallen asleep after all. "Now let's talk about Diana Baker."

"What about her?"

And so Vivian told her boss about Lisa Brown and the theories she and Danny had come up with. After she'd finished Jack remained silent for a short moment obviously thinking. "Well, this is not impossible. Maybe you're right. I'll see what I can make of it. Now get to bed, too. It's late and you're on sick leave… oh, and Vivian?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you one more favour?"

"Sure."

"Can you keep Danny from coming to work tomorrow? I really don't need him here before he's fit again."

"Of course. There's no way I would have let him go."

"Ok. Lucky he came to you. Good night."

"Good luck finding Miss Baker!" was last Viv said before hanging up and putting the phone away. The display had showed her it was just after 11 p.m. Time to go to sleep finally. She made her way up to the bedroom, feeling much more tired than she had one hour ago when she'd first attempted to go to bed that evening. Smiling to herself contently she got ready to go to sleep.

Her husband was in the bedroom, still awake. He was reading a book but looked up at his wife when she entered the room. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Did Danny leave?"

Vivian sighed. There was the next discussion with a stubborn man coming up. "No. He's not well, I finally got him to sleep a little – on the sofa. I'm going to drive him home in the morning."

"You think that's a good idea? Viv you're the one who's ill. You should take care of yourself."

"Yes, but I'm feeling ok. I've been home resting for days. A short drive won't kill me. If anything's going to kill me, by the way, it's gonna be boredom. And also if I should start feeling worse I have you to take care of me, and Reggie, our friends, the rest of the family… I don't know if Danny's got anybody at all. So I will take care of him for a bit."

"He's a grown man, he should be able to take care of himself."

But Vivian was adamant. "I'm not going to argue with you about this. Now, go to sleep. I'll do the same."

When Vivian woke up seven hours later she found a message on her phone that Jack had called. He'd left a message on the mailbox: "Hey Viv it's me. Just calling to tell you we found Diana Baker, who is indeed Lisa Brown, one hour after you called. She was at Mr and Mrs Brown's house. She changed so much physically, she didn't look like the Lisa Brown we were searching for years ago, but then again I do feel ashamed because I should have made up a connection between those two cases myself. Good job, you two. Tell Danny I'm proud of him. See you."

While listening Vivian walked down to the living-room to wake Danny up before her son Reggie might find him there which would probably have the boy shocked a bit.

She half-expected the younger agent to be up and about already, but when she entered the living-room she was relieved to find him still sleeping like a baby. For a moment she just stood there watching him, studying his handsome features. Now in his sleep he was all relaxed for once making him look much younger than he usually did. Vivian had to smile. She was going to wake so she could tell him the good news, and then take him home so he could recover.

She was really glad that he'd come to her.


End file.
